Salvatore Sciarrino
“Ombre nel mattino di Piero”

Lassus Quartet
Johann Günther (producer)

In our third project, we return once more to the question of process. This time we considerd not only how to record something, but also the process of rehearsing the musical material itself. The idea was this: To do a project where everything - from the first rehearsal, until the last microphone is turned of - happens in complete silence. To realise this vision, we worked with the Lassus quartet, who already had been experimenting with silent rehearsals.

There are so many reasons this idea excited; from the first rehearsal where the musicians could not take the easy route and explain stuff, but rather had to communicate through the instrument and the music itself - to the silent morning coffees on the first and the last production day. But our main intention with the project was to explore what we hoped would be a profound change in the way the musicians and the team listened, worked with, and percieved sound. This radically forced situation was based on the belief that how you choose to do something, (especially something creative), has a profound effect on how things turn out in the end.

To facilitate a production week in complete silence, we returned to the recording venue of our first production; the small town of Valevåg on the west coast of Norway. Here the entire team, including the four quartet members, Johann the producer/sound engineer and small film crew were staying in the old wooden house of composer Fartein Valen.

The recording will be released May 2019.